Jeanette Ashe|Chair, Department of Political Science, Douglas College

“The academic research shows that the underrepresentation of women in politics is not caused by a lack of willingness to run for elected office, but rather barriers in the process by which parties select candidates. It is not a question of supply, as more than enough women come forward to fill half the candidacies; the real problem lies with unfair biases in the party nomination process. Canada lags far behind other countries in terms of equity measures to promote gender-balanced representation in our democracy. The Candidate Gender Equity Act will fill this critical gap.”